RATEPAYERS could pay another $25,000 for a
second audit of the revamp of Wells St last year
that went at least $1.7 million over its original
budget.
A 5-3 majority of councillors at the 25 September public council meeting backed a notice
of motion by Cr Colin Hampton for council to allocate up to $25,000 for “a full forensic audit” of
the Wells St redevelopment originally budgeted
at $3.5 million.
Cr Hampton described an audit of five major
construction projects in Frankston, ordered in
June last year by councillors during the previous
four-year council term, as “scathing” at the September council meeting.
That internal council audit, at a cost of $29,000
to ratepayers, was carried out by Pitcher Partners and analysed the upgrade to Wells St, the
construction of a new war memorial at Beauty
Park, the refurbishment of the Frankston Yacht
Club, the building of the Frankston Football Club
Function Centre and a clubhouse extension for
the Frankston Bombers at Baxter Reserve.
The Pitcher Partners audit also analysed council’s management of capital works projects.
The Wells St project was mired in controversy
after The Times first reported 11 bench seats cost
$13,830 each, four circular seats cost $12,820
each and 18 planters were $8670 each (“Street
spending under scrutiny”, The Times 14/6/16).
It later emerged that 17 street lights cost
$19,000 each taking the total spending on furniture and lights to just over $833,000.
“We have just recently received a scathing report on several of council’s projects — this is one
of them,” Cr Hampton said.
“We are here to manage the affairs and the
budgets of this council. Now, when we get a re-

port from Pitcher Partners which have showed in
many projects we have gone over budget there
are two things we can do. We can sit on our hands
and let it keep happening or find some answers as
to why it’s been happening and fix it.
“Once we’ve got the report back on this, I
believe that we could put the recommendations
from this into a report on the yacht club, on the
war memorial and the football club [function
centre].”
Cr Hampton was one of five councillors —